The Research Core Center at the Oregon Health &Science University will support thirteen principal investigators, funded by the NIDCD and other institutes. The group has a strong focus on and a substantial record of accomplishments in the auditory and vestibular sciences;other investigators within the group study additional areas of NIDCD focus, including olfaction and head and neck cancer. The goal of the Core Center is to centralize expertise on bioengineering, imaging, and mouse genetics in order to enhance presently funded research projects and to stimulate collaborations between participating investigators. In order to achieve these goals, continued support of three Core facilities is proposed. The Bioengineering Core (Alfred Nuttall, director) will provide computer hardware and software support, as well as expertise and instrumentation for measurement of hearing acuity in live animals. The Imaging Core (Dennis Trune and Peter Steyger, co-directors) will centralize confocal and electron-microscopic imaging through the existing OHRC infrastructure. The Mouse Core (Peter Gillespie and John Brigande, co-directors) will provide expertise on mouse husbandry and genotyping as well as two centralized services: assembly of transgenic and gene-targeting constructs and in vivo electroporation to deliver foreign genes into the inner ear in utero. By providing services not available through existing grants, this Core facility will enhance research carried out by users and stimulate productive collaborations. Core B Bioengineering Core Director: Alfred L. Nuttall, Ph.D. DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Bioengineering Core will support all P30 investigators and collaborating investigators. The purpose of this Core is to provide engineering and software expertise needed in the projects of the users and to maintain the OHRC sound-exposure and auditory-brainstem-response (ABR) facilities. The P30 engineer will design and build custom electronic and mechanical devices that solve experimental and data acquisition problems. The P30 computer programmer will write computer software (e.g., Lab-View virtual instruments) to address the experimental needs of the users. Projects undertaken by the engineer and programmer will extend the funded work of the Core users and stimulate collaborative studies between users. The P30 staff will help create common databases that would allow sharing of experimental data among users and enable more secure data backup. Core staff also advise faculty on specification and purchase of instrumentation and software.